Tack button



Oct. 22, 1935. F1 R. WHITE TACK BUTTON Filed Jan. 19, 1955 lanitln IZWLCZ'Q,

Patented Oct. Z2, 1935 UNTED STATES ArtNr orgies The Patent Button Company,

Waterbury,

Conn., a corporation of Connecticut Application January 19, 1935, Serial No. 2,571

3 Claims.

My invention relates to new and useful improvements in tack buttons, and has for an object to provide a button that is relatively cheap to manufacture and extremely durable in service.

As is well known, tack buttons generally consist of the button head proper, in which head there is means provided for deflecting and deforming a tack, and a rivet or tack, which latter is to be driven into the button head.

Tack buttons are applied by placing a number of the button heads in the one hopper of a button attaching machine and supplying another hopper with the tacks, so that as the machine is operated, the button heads will be fed down to the table and onto the article to which the button head is to be attached, while, in turn, the tacks are driven up through the material into the button head where they are curled or deformed during the attachingr operation to thus form a permanent fastening of the button to the cloth.

The present button in its broadest aspects resembles the type of button shown in the patent granted to me, Walter T. Abel, and Leonard R. Carley, Number 1,744,350, on January 21, 1930, for Tack buttons, and also is similar in its general aspects to the button shown in a companion application filed by me on November 2, 1934, bearing Serial Number 751,209, for Tack buttons.

In the above-mentioned application, I provided a disk with a central opening, which registers with an opening in the hub of the button, so that the side walls of the disk about the opening may act as a guide for the tack during its entrance into the button head. I have found, however, that at times it may be desirable to have guiding walls for the tack that wil1 extend still further into the button head to more firmly guide the tack during its entrance.

Another object, therefore, of the present'invention is to provide an additional reinforcement in the lower extremity of the hub of the button, the reinforcement being so pierced that the broken walls about the piercing will extend a material way up into the button head to thus more firmly guide the tack into position.

Still another object of the invention is to provide an anvil to cooperate with the tack, the said anvil provided with a semicircular pocket in which the tack will be deformed and which pocket is of greater area or. diameter than the opening in the bottom of the hub of the button.

Still another object of the invention is to so construct this anvil that it willl entirely fill the shell or button back. Thus, when pressure is applied to the button head in the attaching rna-f chine, there will be no possibility of the peripheral rim sagging or the center of the button rising, which latter might disgure the ornamentation `of the button cap.

With these and other objects in view, the in- `5 ventlon consists in certain new and novel features and combination of parts, as will be hereinafter more fully explained and pointed out in the claims.

Referring now to the drawing showing a pre- 10 ferred embodiment of my invention,

Fig. 1 is an enlarged sectional view of my improved button showing the reinforcing plate within the slightly enlarged end of the hub and also showing how the metal centrally of the rein- 15 forcing plate, as well as the hub, has been forced inwardly and upwardly to form what might be termed a tubular guide for the tack;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the button after being attached to the cloth, fragmentarily show- 20 ing a portion of the attaching plunger and table and the manner in which the plunger is cut out to preserve the ornamentation of the'cap during the attaching operation;

Fig. 3 is a bottom plan View of the button 25 showing how the same is to be pierced with a punch or draw pin having preferably a triangular point;

Fig. 4 is a sectional View of the die or anvil of the button head;

Fig. 5 is a similar view of the button shell with the reinforcing plate therein, the shell and plate having been pierced to provide relatively long guide walls for the proper guidance of the tack; and

Fig. 6 is a perspective of the reinforcing plate.

Referring now more particularly to the several views, and for the moment to Figs. 1 and 5, there is shown the button back or shell having what I term the body portion I the upwardly and out- 40 wardly extending flange 2, and the slightly tapered integral hub 3. This shell or button back is formed of relatively thin metal and as far as described is conventional in construction.

However, there will be seen fitted into the 45 lower end of the hub the reinforcing plate 4 which, of course, will be inserted under high pressure, and as the diameter of the plate is slightly greater than the lower inside diameter of the hub 3, the hub will flare slightly outward- 50 ly, as at 5. This is also shown in the companion application above-mentioned.

Rather than having a circular opening in the reinforcing plate, as is shown in the companion case, I prick-punch the bottom wall of the hub Vin reality forms a rim that rigidly reinforces the Vmetal 'I of the shell, to thus provide what I term a tube for the guidance of the tack prongor rivet. It will be understood that the bottomand side walls of the hub are also strengthened by this reinforcing plate 4.

Referring for the moment now tov Figs. 1 and 4, there is shown the anvil or slug 9, consisting of what might be termed the body I0 and the integral hub Il, the hub, in turn, having the semi-circular cavity or pocket I2 formed therein, the diameter of which, it will be noticed, is slightly larger than the diameter of the tube formed in the button shell, so that there is no possibility of the tack not being properly curled during the attaching operation.

`In Fig. 1, it may be seen that the diameter of the body VII) is such that it will entirely ll the buttonshell directly beneath the cap I3, and it will also be noticed that the sides of the body I0 are tapered, as at I4, to conform to the tapering walls 2 of the button shell. The cap may be ornamented, as at I5, with any desired insignia.

Furtheigfit will be noticed that the hub por `tion II of the slug or anvil is of a size to snugly t within the hub of the button shell. Thus, it will be seen that the shell of the'button is practically filled with the slug or anvil, with the exception Yof the slight space between the lower ends 'of the hub and the reinforcing plate 4. In this way, the shell is reinforced substantially throughout its entire structure. The cap will be crimped, as'atV I6, about the flaring walls 2 of the shell, as is the usual practice.

As heretofore mentioned, when the button is to be attached, a tack I'I below the material I8 is supported by the anvil I9, so that when the plunger 20 descends, the prong of the tack will be driven upwardly through the cloth and throughY the opening 6 and will be properly guided by the metal 'I which is of tube-like form. Now, as the plunger continues its descent and drives the Ybutton head (with the anvil having its hemispherical pocket) onto the tack, the tack will be deformed, as at 2|, (Fig. 2), to tightly grip the button head to the material.

It will be seenthat the metal 1 which forms the tube-like portion acts as a substantial guide for the tack and holds the same upright while the point is being curled or deformed. Also by providing this tube, the prong of the tack being held in an upright position, of course, prevents the head 22 of the tack from shifting or, as might be termed, skidding. Y

VIt will also be noticed that by providing an anvil or slug, which entirely fills the button shell In driving up this fractured shell,V

though the power is applied peripherally to thebutton head, the slug entirely lling up the button cap will prevent the peripheral rim of the button head from being bent downwardly with respect to the center. Y Y

I have found in the actual building of buttons of this type Vwith a reinforcing plate therein, by simultaneously piercing both the shell and the plate with a triangular end punch, the fractured metal is driven fora distance up into the cap,

substantially forming a tube, which tube, in turn,

is reinforced by the fractured metal of the reinforcing plate, so that when the buttonsY are attached in the button attaching machine the tack wil always correctly enter the opening of the hub and will be prevented from skidding or tilting to thus be properly curled and deformed during the attaching operation.

It will be seen that in this instance the fractured metal of the shell that is driven upwardly into the button head is well reinforced ator near its upper extremity by the fractured metal of the reinforcing plate, which is not true of the companion application referred to.

Many slight changes are possible in the construction hereinbefore set forth without departing from the principle and spirit of -the invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure byV Letters Patent isr 1. A tack button comprising a shell, said shell formed of relatively soft metal and having an upwardly extending peripheral rim, an integral hub having a slightly enlarged lower extremity, a reinforcing disk of relatively hard metal clamped within said enlarged extremity, an anvil having a pocket and the anvil tted within the hub, a

zo'Y

cap oversaid shell, the bottom wall of the hub and the reinforcing plate being perforate and the displaced metal caused by the perforation form-V ing a tube-like entrance for a tack, and the walls of the tube-like entrance adapted to hold the tack in an upright position during an attaching operation.

j 2. A tackbutton comprising a shell, said shell formed of relatively soft metal and having an upwardly extending peripheral rim, an integral hub, a hard metal reinforcing plate held within the hub and at the lower extremity of ysaid hub, the lower wall of said hub and the said disk being roughly perforated, the fractured metal of the perforation of the bottom wall of the hub vand of the reinforcing member forming substantially a reinforced tubular opening for the reception and guidance of a tack.

shell and substantially completely filling the same, a cap crimped over saidshell and in contact with said anvil, the bottom wall of the shell and the reinforcing Ymember being pierced, andV the fractured metal caused by the puncture of both the thin and hard metal extending upwardly.

into the hub to form a tube-like guide for the taci: to the cavity walls of the anvil.

FRANKLIN R. WHITE. 

